Effect of Binaural Beat Stimulation on Auditory and Visual Sustained Attentions in Young People with Normal Hearing

Numerous studies have investigated the effect of binaural beat stimulation on visual attention. In this study, we aim to investigate the effect of binaural beats on both auditory and visual sustained attention of young people with normal hearing.

Thirty normal-hearing people with mean age of 27.77±6.85 years were divided into two groups of Sham-Binaural beat (SB, n=15) and Binaural beat-Sham (BS, n=15). The participants in each group performed the Integrated Visual and Auditory-2 Continuous Performance Test (IVA-2 CPT) twice on different days. The SB group performed the IVA-2 CPT first under sham condition and then in the presence of binaural beats. In the BS group, the order was reversed in terms of stimuli presentation. The binaural beat stimulus was an audio file that induced beats at a frequency of 16 Hz by presenting 400 and 416 Hz stimuli to the right and left ears, respectively. The sham stimulus was a pure tone of 400 HZ. A mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the means.

The results showed the significant effect of binaural beat stimulation on auditory sustained attention (p<0.001). However, its effect on visual sustained attention was not significant (p=0.061).

Stimulation with binaural beats of 16 Hz may improve the auditory sustained attention in young people with normal hearing. It cannot improve their visual sustained attention.